Five Indian startups raised nearly Rs 1,300 crore in venture capital funding last week across sectors such as agriculture, financial technology, gaming, among others.
Tiger Global Management, the New-York based investment fund, led the funding pack. This comes after the venture capital firm, one of the early backers of India’s consumer internet ecosystem, amassed $3.75 billion for its global fund last October.
The increased investment push, which has come after an investment freeze of three years, has already seen the venture firm pumping in funds in eight startups so far in the last eight months. Interestingly, the firm which has backed consumer companies such as Ola, Hike, Flipkart, Nestaway, among others is now slowly shifting its focus towards B2B firms. Out of the eight investments so far, three have been in the B2B space.
Tiger Global Infuses $100 million in Ninjacart
Business-to-business startup Ninjacart raised $100 million (around Rs 690 crore) in a growth funding round from Tiger Global.
With the fresh investment, the firm plans to build capacity to serve more than a million retailers and restaurants, launch new product categories and ramp up the teams, it said in a statement.
Launched in 2015, the startup delivers fruits and vegetables sourced directly from farmers across 20 Indian states and supplies to more than 17,000 retailers and restaurants across seven major Indian cities every day in less than 12 hours.
The startup, which counts Infosys Ltd. Co-Founder Nandan Nilekani, Qualcomm Ventures, Accel Partners, among others as investors, has a sourcing network of more than 100 collection centers.
“We are extremely excited to have Tiger Global part of our vision,” Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, said.
Quona Capital leads $20 million growth round in digital lending startup
Digital lending startup ZestMoney raised $20 million (Rs 139.4 crore) in a growth funding round led by venture capital firm Quona Capital.
Australian fintech investor, Reinventure, and existing investors—Ribbit Capital, Omidyar Network and PayU—also participated in the funding round, ZestMoney said in a statement.
The company said the investment will be used to upgrade technology and expand the acceptance of its digital payment instrument both online and in stores.
“Digital affordability solutions are witnessing unprecedented growth in India, and this funding will help us in making EMI financing a reality for a billion Indians by accelerating our efforts to make ZestMoney ubiquitous,” Lizzie Chapman, co-founder of ZestMoney, said.
Founded in 2015, the platform allows users to make purchases without having to use a credit card and allows them to pay using digital EMIs. The startup gathers data from various sources, including Credit Information Bureau.
Mayfield India, Axilor backs payments platform EnKash
Business-to-business payments platform EnKash raised $3 million (Rs 20.9 crore) in growth round of funding from Mayfield India and Axilor Ventures.
The company said it will use the fresh capital to upgrade its technology and ramp up its leadership team.
“Businesses in India have been struggling with manual payment processes for a long time,” Yadvendra Tyagi, co-founder and chief executive officer of EnKash said.
The firm counts private sector lenders Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. among its clients.
Others
Digital gaming startup Mobile Premier League raised $35.5 million led by Sequoia India, Times Internet Ltd. and GoVentures, the investment arm of Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm Go-Jek. The growth round also saw the participation of other investors such as RTP Global, Beenext, Base Growth and Venture Highway, the company said in a statement.
Healthcare startup mfine raised $17.2 million in growth funding round, led by SBI Investment, a Japan-based venture capital firm and a subsidiary of the SBI Group, the company said in a statement. SBI Group’s Southeast Asian investment arm, SBI Ven Capital, and tech-focused global venture capital firm Beenext also participated in the round.
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